Jean's Genes - Experiment One - Chapter 01

[Female TF - Claws]


“Honey, do you like the way I look?” she asked, staring at her hands while they lay in their bed together.

“Of course, darling.” he replied, not looking up from his book.

“I'm being serious, here.”

Scott sighed inwardly and put his book down. “You do realize that, while you are indeed gorgeous, I married you for your sharp mind and ridiculous sense of humor, right?”

“I know,” Jean replied, her husband's compliments not really sinking in. “I just... sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be... different.”

“You're the stupidly-gifted geneticist, darling.” Scott said as he returned to his book, “I'll leave that to you.”

“Hm.” Jean replied, her thoughts already moving in that direction.


* * *

Jean's home laboratory was surprisingly well-equipped thanks to her position as operations manager for the genetics wing at Kord Industries.  She always ordered spare equipment in bulk (Two or three centrifuges?  The work lab didn't need all of those at once.) and kept one of each as a back-up in “off-site storage” (a.k.a. Jean's garage).  Of course, she saw it as her duty to test the equipment regularly to ensure it was in good working order.

That's how she justified it to herself, anyway.

As soon as she returned home from work, Jean had ferried a small cooler into the garage.  Scott leaned on the door frame, eating yoghurt from a tub and watching her transfer various test tubes into an industrial mini-fridge against the wall.

“Bringing your work home with you again, huh?” he asked through a mouthful of vanilla.

“Mm-hmm.” Jean replied, while reading a label. “Some experimental retro-viruses.  Very dangerous.  Could destroy our entire way of life as a species on this planet.”

“Marvelous, be sure to turn off the exhaust fan when you come to bed.  You know how that thing makes the ducting rattle at night.”

She rolled her eyes and tucked a stray lock of her dark cherry hair behind her ear.  “Of course, honey.”


* * *

“So you're working from home today?” Scott asked as he fixed his tie in the hallway mirror.

“Yup, and all through next week, too.  I convinced Ted to let me try working from home since the majority of my job has turned into supervisory paperwork.”

“Is this one of those things where you're going to set up some auto-apps to take care of that stuff, and spend the week binging on WebFlix again?”

“Something like that.”

“I both hate and love you right now.” he said with an exaggerated frown.

“I know.” she grinned. “How long is your business conference?”

“Five days, not including the flights.”

“Well, I guess we'd better say our goodbyes now, then.” Jean sighed overly-dramatically. “My poor Scott, having to work on the weekend at a five-star hotel in Singapore.  However will I survive without my brilliant corporate-strategist husband for seven days?” she mused sarcastically.

He finished with his tie and softly kissed her forehead.  She grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him in for a sweet, passionate kiss that lasted a little longer.

“Have a terrible time without me, honey.” she whispered with a smile.

“You too.” he smiled back, and left for the airport.

As soon as he was out the door, Jean took her morning coffee straight to her garage lab.  Reclining in the old office chair in front of her PC, she poured over the details of her experiment one last time.

“I have no idea how Mister Kord was able to get these lab reports from the government, but these processes are revolutionary.” she exclaimed to herself as she read. “Successful splicing, no rejection amongst test subjects... incredible... Huh, didn't get to human trials, though.”  Jean stopped, as she realized she was talking out loud to herself.

It took all day, but Jean being the determined genius that she was, had replicated the shady government splicing treatment all by herself, in a garage, with “borrowed” equipment.  She was damn proud of that.  Sitting back at her computer, Jean opened up her webcam app and started recording.

“Video Log for Experiment One, Day One, 7:38pm.” she stated clearly towards the camera, “I have replicated the treatment outlined in the lab records from work.  I've run the simulations and it's viable.  It's frickin' viable!”

Jean regained her composure and continued. “I've been thinking all day about what I should change.  It's got to be something not initially noticeable.  Something that, if anything should go wrong, won't have too many ill effects.  That's why I've chosen to do my nails.”

Jean raised her currently fully human hands for the camera, showing both sides.  “From what I have read in the notes, the treatment will cause my body to reject the part that it's changing, and re-grow in the newly-programmed manner.  Basically, my fingernails will fall off and grow back different.  In this case, as cat claws.  The genetic markers have been identified and the treatment has been programmed accordingly, all I have to do is inject and wait for the results.”

Jean picked up the loaded injector-pen and pressed one end against her thigh. “Here's mud in your eye, kid.”  she laughed nervously, pressing the button on the other end.  The fluid shot into her leg with a sharp hiss.

Nothing happened immediately, of course.  She knew this.  With a look of acceptance, Jean moved to stop the video recording.

“Now we play 'The Waiting Game'...” she mugged self-consciously. “Alright, I'm just... I'll start recording again when there's something to show.”

* * *

It was early the next morning when Jean awoke, having gone to bed with nothing but a dull tingle in her fingertips to show for her work the previous night.  Sleepily making her way to their shared bathroom, she started her morning routine of brushing her teeth and checking her reflection.  It was while she was attempting to focus on squeezing some toothpaste onto her brush that she stopped dead for a second and stared at her hands in shock.

“Oh my god.”  she whispered.

Jean dropped her toothbrush and toothpaste into the sink, hurriedly raising her hands in front of her face and staring at the backs of them.  She currently had no fingernails.

“Oh my god!”  she exclaimed.

The sight was eerie, slightly unsettling, but also incredible.  She had never seen human hands without nails before, and to her, the smooth skin that currently held their place looked no different to the rest of her hands.  She started to brush the backs of her fingertips lightly with the opposite hand, stroking across the empty areas of skin and marveling at the unfamiliar sensation.

“This is... this is... I need a coffee.”

Heading to the kitchen, Jean turned on their coffee machine.  She leaned against the kitchen counter while staring at her hands again.  “It just doesn't look... right... without something there.”  She stroked the backs of her fingertips again, then stopped when she felt something different.

Looking closer, Jean could see small bumps and the very points of thin claws poking out.  As she watched, the nail root slowly started to sink into her finger, while the claw lengthened and thickened slightly.  It was very slow, but it was definitely happening.

Eyes wide with astonishment, she rushed straight to her PC in the garage.

“Video Log, Experiment One, Day Two, uh... 7:04am.  I woke up without nails, and now I've got small claws growing out of my fingers!” she excitedly raised her hands to show the camera. “It frickin' worked!  They're slowly growing out, while it looks like the nail root is drawing into my finger, like the way a real cat's paw would sheath them.  I can't feel any pain, so that part of the treatment is also a success.  It was really weird seeing my hands without fingernails, but now I've got... I have to run tests... No, I should wait until they're finished growing before I do that.  Okay, more waiting.”

She stopped the recording, staring at her claws once again.  The points had reached the ends of her fingers, curving out and just ahead a little.  She placed her hands on the desk in front of her and tapped her nails against it's surface, reveling in the clicking sounds they made.

“Damn it! Forgot my coffee...”  Jean chastised herself as she rose from her seat and headed towards the door, more clicking sounds following her footsteps.

“Wait, what?”

She stopped dead in her tracks and looked down at her bare feet.  They too, like her hands, had claws growing out of them.

“Ohhhhhh, holy frick.  That is something I should have realized earlier.  Wait, hold on...”

Further realization dawned on her now much more awake brain.  Heading back into their bedroom, her toe-claws clicking against the floor with each step, Jean reached their bed and pulled back the covers to reveal ten loose fingernails and, further down, ten loose toenails.

“Ew.  And, also... ew.”

* * *

“Video Log, Experiment One, Day Two, 8:45am.  My new claws seem to have stopped growing now, so I think they are done.  Also, this!” Jean reached down and pulled her foot up into view of the webcam, holding it for a few seconds before letting it drop again. “I wasn't specific enough with the programming.  My feet have claws too, now, which also seem to have finished growing.  This is... actually pretty cool.  Furthermore, I have discovered that I can extend my claws by tensing my fingers.  Watch.”

Jean raised her hands and did indeed tense her fingers, causing her claws to extend further from their sheathes, out and over her fingertips.  She held this for a few moments, rotating her hands for the camera, before relaxing her fingers and letting her claws slide back.

“Hmm... I wonder if...”

She tensed her toes and the same thing happened to the claws upon them.

“Ha! Concurrent abilities with my toe-claws!  Oh wow, this is... I have to test these babies out!  I'm gonna go outside and try to climb the tree in our backyard!  Oh, but wait, that's gonna be tough on my hands and feet.  Unless... I'll need to make some adjustments to the treatment... speed up the process... Okay, it's decided.  More science first.  The field test will come later, once I've... prepared myself.”

Slowly, Jean's smile widened to an excited grin as she stopped the recording and got back to work.